My Breastfeeding Experience

6th August 2017

Breastfeeding is something that I’ve always known I was going to do wayyyy before even thinking about actually trying for a baby, let alone actually being pregnant. What I wasn’t prepared for was the breastfeeding struggles I would face…

My first experience of breastfeeding.

It wasn’t easy and it definitely didn’t come completely natural to me, I really struggled with my first daughter. She had problems latching on, and it was a good 18 hours before she took her first proper feed. What no one warned me was that this would hurt! I remember with her first proper suck, my contractions started again! No exaggeration! Turns out it was just my uterus contracting back down, the human body actually never ceases to amaze me.

She had jaundice and was really drowsy for the first 2 weeks, so it was a real struggle getting her to feed. I had to wake her every 4 hours, by any means necessary. There were times I would have to strip her down to her nappy and tickle her feet, in order to get her to feed.
I definitely had people judge me for this, for forcing my newborn to eat. ‘Maybe she’s not hungry’ they would say, oh ok….or maybe the jaundice is making her drowsy, and she NEEDS me to help her flush it out of her system by feeding her *rolls eyes*
Things did get easier with time, and actually became pretty easy. Being fed every 4 hours at the beginning, pretty much became her routine. I went on to breastfeed her until she cut her first tooth at 6 months…

Cue baby number 2

OMG! Is all I can say…this little girl entered the world looking for my boobies…literally!
As an ‘experienced’ mum lol, I would have said I was mentally prepared. At least, I thought I was. I had all these things that I didn’t do the first time round, that I was going to do or try, to make things easier this time round. Baby 1 was kind of easy, so baby 2 would be even easier right?….WRONG?!
Myself and my partner were definitely in for a shock lol.
This little girl, my beautiful little girl…sigh…fed constantly, when she was awake she could feed as often as every half an hour. Ouch…My poor nipples, they got ripped to shreds, one actually split in half! My baby girls suction was so strong, it would have given the newest Dyson a run for its money. It was worth it though, the pain, the tears because believe me it hurt like hell! There were times that I actually dreaded feeding times, and would grip her feeding pillow for support.

Breast is best

The is nothing in the world like the mothers milk, it is actually thee most amazing thing.
I fed my girls, I protected them from illness, and provided them with comfort. That was my super power and I was not going to let anything stop me. I am so grateful that I was able to breastfeed, both my girls without any complications.

I’ve never understood why a mother would want to not breastfeed, by their own choice.
Now I know that there are some mum’s that have an issue breastfeeding or producing milk, and ultimately the MOST important thing is that the baby is fed.
If any of you reading this would like to share your story as to why you chose not to breastfeed, I would be really interested.

5 thoughts on “My Breastfeeding Experience”

It’s interesting that you said you knew this is what you always wanted to do. I think I was the complete opposite. I used to work in healthcare and I think I took the opposing view as there seemed to be so much vilification of those not breastfeeding and I see it as a totally personal decision. Having said that, when my two were plopped on to my tummy there seemed nothing more natural than popping them on the breast even though I hadn’t fully decided that that was what I wanted to do at that time…

Totally agree with you here that fed is best no matter how they are fed. Breastfeeding is so hard I was ready to jack it in on day 2, and then later when at 4 months during the four month sleep regression when my daughter would feed every hour around the clock. It’s hard but well done for persevering. Thanks for linking up at #fortheloveofBLOG. Claire x